Garage Door Bottom Seal

Garage Door Bottom Seal

Standard Garage Door Seals

The most typical garage door seal is the type that is installed on most steel garage doors. This type of bottom seal employs the use of an aluminum or plastic bottom retainer that is screwed to the bottom of the garage door. The retainer has a track on the bottom that is used to hold the bottom seal in place. Standard bottom seal is 3-3/4” wide. In some cases, we use 7” bottom rubber if we are trying to fill a larger gap. The retainer used to hold this bottom rubber in place is from 1-⅜” to 2” wide. You should measure the thickness of your garage door before purchasing retainer. If you have a small gap at the bottom of your garage door when the door is closed and level you may want to purchase 7″ bottom rubber.

Wood Garage Door Seals

When it’s time to replace the seal on the bottom of your garage door, you need to be sure that you buy the right type of seal. Standard steel garage doors and wood garage doors employ different types of bottom seals. Steel garage doors typically have an aluminum or plastic retainer on the bottom of the door that holds the weather seal in place. However, wood garage doors use rubber bottom seals that are nailed into place. Measure the width of the garage door before making a purchase. It is best to install this seal with no gaps.

Rolling Steel Bottom Seals

The bottom weather seal on a rolling steel door can be a little more complex than a residential garage door. The bottom seal on most commercial rolling steel doors are held into place by the doors’ bottom bar. You should pay special attention when pulling the old seal off of the bottom of the door. Some rolling steel doors employ the use of pneumatic or electric safety devices. Pneumatic hoses can often be pulled from the old bottom seals and placed inside a new seal. If you find that there are wires built in to your bottom seal you may want to give a professional a call. Your door may have an electric safety edge and the new device may have to be custom made. If you have questions about a garage door safety device you can give us a call at 800-814-8530 from 8am-5pm EST.

Bottom Seal Threshold

To lessen the amount of rain and debris in your garage, some home and business owners use garage door threshold. The threshold that we typically install is rubber and it is glued to the floor of the garage. It is simple to install and can be cut to fit with a simple box cutter. We have used glue down threshold with great success except for 1 instance where we installed the threshold while the outside temperature was very low. We do not recommend installing garage door threshold when outside temperatures are below 40°F (5° C).

Seals for Uneven Floor

Often, our customers install new garage doors onto existing properties. In some cases, we remove old wood garage doors that have begun to sag badly. Due to the sagging, many homeowners do not realize that their concrete has settled and become uneven. The old garage door would conform to the settling of the concrete. When we install a new garage door it becomes apparent that there is a big problem. In the past, we have employed the use of oversize bottom rubber seal and threshold to try to bridge the gap. Now, we have begun to refer our customers to a 3rd party that has a permanent solution.

This solution is called Polylevel. Polylevel uses polyurethane to actually lift your driveway back to it’s original position. It’s really a fantastic product. You can check it out using the video below. In the video description you can find a Polylevel dealer in your area.